December 14, 2011

Time magazine’s “Man of the Year” has been an annual tradition since 1927 when Charles Lindbergh became the first Man of the Year.

On January 2, 1939, when Time Magazine published its annual Man of the Year issue, the person who was chosen for this honor was Adolf Hitler. Hitler was selected because he was the person or thing that had most influenced events of the preceding year. However, Time made it clear that Hitler had not influenced events in a good way.

This year, the Person of the Year will be “The Protestor.”

Cover of Time Magazine for January

Back in January 1939, Time’s cover picture featured Hitler playing “his hymn of hate in a desecrated cathedral while victims dangle on a St. Catherine’s wheel and the Nazi hierarchy looks on.” This picture, which is shown below, was drawn by Baron Rudolph Charles von Ripper, a German Catholic who had fled Hitler’s Germany.

cover of Time magazine for January 1939 featured hatred for Hitler

The article about the 1938 Man of the Year in the January 2, 1939 issue of Time is quoted below: (Caution hatemongering ahead.) (more…)